Shipping carton for flexible packages



Aug- 14, 1956 .1. H. sTRooP SHIPPING CARTON FOR FLEXIBLE PACKAGES Filed Dec. lO. 1952 Iliff INVENTOR. Bil/M11, ff Sir United States Patent SHIPPING CARTON FOR FLEXIBLE PACKAGES John H. Stroop, New York, N. Y., assignor to The Pad- Y-Wax Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 10, 1952, Serial No. 325,079

y1 Claim. (Cl. 220-97) My invention'pertains to special purpose cartons and is concerned with a permanent delivery and return device for the safe shipment and display of flexible packages containing liquids, semi-liquids or powders. j

The substitution of flexible packages for metal cans for the storage, transportation and display of liquids and semi-liquids, such as soups and the like, has been sought for a long time in order to increase the economy and eliminate the use of large quantities of steel whe conditions of scarcity obtain. j

Some progress has been made but primarily in small packages where the strength of the available film fabrics is adequate and the shipping problem is not severe.

With the more recent production of tough and yet flexible film fabric, the packaging of liquid quarts and even larger quantities is feasible but ordinary shipping cartons are not satisfactory.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a carton peculiarly adapted not only for the safe shipment of a large number of flexible packages but also composed of tray sections which may be firmly assembled for shipment and at the destination easily segregated for display and dispensing.

Another object of my invention is to provide tray sections which may be stacked into a carton assembly for shipment and are so formed as to cooperate one with another and provide jointly a complete, all over support, for each flexible package.

Another object is to provide suitable trays for safe and protective distribution of flexible packages without removal or direct handling from the point of shipment to the dispensing or sales outlet without detracting from their use as display and sales racks, the same trays being adapted for compact return shipment and capable of reuse indefinitely.

Another object of my invention is to make the transportation units uniform and capable of being nested for empty return shipment and nevertheless adapted to be stacked one above another with the full pocket spaces available to receive the flexible packages and the upper unit constituting a closure for the next lower unit with out subjecting the packages to compression or squeez- 1ng.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of three units of a carton embodying my invention stacked in position for shipping flexible packages;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a single unit such as are shown stacked in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of two units nested for empty return shipment; and

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a flexible package partially broken away to show the film in section.

Referring to the carton shown in Figs. l, 2 and 3:

Each unit is in the form of a square tray having av top flange which is curved or hook shaped in cross section so as to provide a ready grip for lifting the units either singly or in an assembled stack as shown in Fig. 1.

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The side and end walls'12 of this unit are inclined out- However, when the units are assembled for shipmentl of the flexible containers they are stacked with each unit at to the adjacent units whereupon, instead of nesting, they fit only a short distance into the adjacent units so that they can be easily handled in stacks but the bottoms of each compartment above closes off but does not fit into the adjacent compartment below. In this position as shown in Fig. 1,-the square shape of the cartons and the upwardly projecting upper portions of the side and end walls 12 prevent rotation or lateral displace-v ment of upper cartons with respect to lower ones. j

Thus spaces of predetermined and ample size are provided to receive the flexible packages 17, one of which is shown in Fig. 1 and in Fig. 4.

To make clear the peculiar utility of this carton, the following is an example of'its use:

In the petroleum industry quart cans for lubricatingv oil are made by the million and are transported to a renery or other large terminal, where they are filled, capped and crated. They are then shipped to the bulk stations from whence they are transhipped to the filling stations. Here they are mounted on a display rack and sold to the customer. The station attendant normally pushes the can into a measure or container having a cutter for punching the can and a flexible spout for pouring the oil into the customers crank case.

The manufacture of the can and the lithographing of the cans is a relatively costly process and then the open cans are fed into a filling and capping machine which is very large, heavy and costly and requires that empty cans finished and ready to be filled, be supplied in large quantities at high speed.

While there are relatively few refineries or large terminals, each oil company has thousands of bulk stations where gasoline and like products are received by barge or tank car and are shipped out to the filling stations in tank trucks or the like.

A simplified and less costly procedure is made possible by using a flexible lm packaging machine, for example, such as that illustrated in my U. S. Patent No. 2,608,809, issued September 9, 1952. These machines are relatively light and inexpensive and are adapted to be located at the bulk stations and thus the flexible packages may be produced much nearer to the final distribution points, viz., the filling stations.

My present invention makes it entirely feasible to ship the flexible packages from the bulk station to the filling station and the tray units of the carton are immediately available for displaying and dispensing the flexible packages without removal from the tray. Each trip of the tank truck for gasoline delivery could be used to deliver one or more carton stacks of tray units as shown in Fig. l and take back one or more stacks of empties nested as in Fig. 3.

The tray compartments are preferably sized with just the desired theoretical clearance so that the flexible packages will not be subject to strain due to movement of the liquid within and yet permit reasonable expansion for changes of temperature.

Some types of flexible packages have outside seams as shown at 18 in Fig. 4 but they are flexible and may be doubled over.

The trays may be formed from suitable sheet material in a press or die and plastic or metal may be used. The trays or cartons as so constructed are substantially rigid and each comprises a unitary structure..

Variations may be made inthe size and arrangement of the pockets to satisfy the requirements ofV larger or smaller packages.

What I claim is:

A shipping carton for predetermined flexible packages of a fragile nature and all of certain predetermined dimensions, comprising a unitary, substantially rigid strueture, which is square as seen in plan and includes a plurality of parallelly disposed, y'elongate compartments formed in part by inwardly-downwardly inclined side walls for said rton which are parallel to the longer dimension of said compartments, and inwardly-downwardly inclined end walls for lsaid carton which are su-bstantially perpendicular to said side walls; a plurality of partition walls parallel to said side walls and formingl with said side walls the later-al boundaries of all said compartments, at least one partition wal-l parallel to said end walls for deli-ning the ends of said compartments; all said partition walls being upwardly-tapering in vertical cross section, all terminating in a common plane below and parallel to a plane containing the upper edge portions of said side and Said end walls, and all having downwardly open recesses which extend completely between and through the opposite walls of said carton and all of a depth substantially half the height of said partitions and having a cross sectional shape to receive the ktapered upper portions Lnl .the partition walls of a similar subjacent carton when a plurality of such cartons are stacked in a nested position with their side walls all parallel to each other; bottom walls for said compartments all disposed in a single plane parallel to the planes aforesaid; and all said walls and said partitions being formed as parts of a single integral structure; whereby whena plurality o-f cartons, each as aforesaid, vare stacked one on another with the longitudinal .dimensions of the compartments of each carton at right angles with those of the next adjacent upper and lower cartons, the Weight of each carton and everything supported thereby will be `supportedsolely lby the partitions and side walls vof the next subjacent `carton and not by any of the fragile exible packages v'which may be contained in any of said cartons.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 334,826 Tip-ton Ian. 26, 1886 898,514 Shepard Sept. `15, 1908 1,544,389 Hall June 30, 1925 1,983,325 Swift Dec. 4, 1934 2,064,518 Brogden Dec. 15, l193,6 2,071,545 Kronenberger Feb. 23, 1937 2,524,955 Borzell et al. Oct. 10, 19.50 2,568,769 Shepard Sept. 25, 1951 2,599,727 Schmidt June 10,y 1952 

